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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27908611">Shakespeare</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmk418/pseuds/cmk418'>cmk418</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Departed (2006)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2007-10-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2007-10-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:40:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>226</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27908611</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmk418/pseuds/cmk418</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Dignam forgets that Costigan liked to do things like read- before.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Costigan &amp; Sean Dignam</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Shakespeare</h2></a>
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    <p>There was such a thing as too deep.  Dignam knew this as well as anyone.  Get in too deep and those bits of yourself that you tried to retain, they’d fall away under the weight of the charade.  You would become what you were fighting against.  </p><p>It was a risk they took with every undercover.  He’d thought Costigan would stick.  Thought it since the kid pulled Hawthorne out of his ass in that first interview.  He wondered if Costigan cracked a book anymore – tough little hoods couldn’t exactly be seen going to the library between drug deals.  </p><p>He thought of a quote that he learned in high school English, thought that it might be something that the trainee would appreciate.</p><p>Billy’s phone vibrated.  He picked it up, not surprised to see a text message from “Anonymous Sender”.  The content, however, did surprise him.</p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <i>Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant die but once.</i>
  </p>
</div>Billy squinted at the words as if trying to place them.  Shakespeare.  <p>A smile touched his lips.  Dignam had sent him a quote from <i>Julius Caesar</i>.  An incorrect quote.  It should have read <i>“The valiant never taste of death but once.”</i>  It amounted to the same thing, but he’d really have to let the Staff Sergeant know the correct words.</p><p>Billy grinned.  It would have to wait until their next meeting.</p>
  </div></div>
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